Ezekiel 20:30-32 - Homilies By W. Jones

God, and Israel in the then present.

"Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers?" etc. The Lord Jehovah through his prophet now addresses himself to the Israel of that day, and especially to the elders who had come to the prophet to inquire of him. In these verses he declares their sins. Three chief points claim our attention.

I. THE SINS OF WICKED ANCESTORS PRACTISED BY THEIR SUCCESSORS .

1 . The idolatry of the fathers continued by their children . "Say unto the house of Israel, Thus salts the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?" The whoredom spoken of is spiritual—unfaithfulness to God, in the worship of idols. Even the exile in Babylon did not for some time cure the people of this sin. As their fathers had done, so did they. Parental example is very powerful for several reasons.

2 . Idolatry practised even in its most cruel rites . "For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day" (see our notes on Ezekiel 16:20 , Ezekiel 16:21 ).

3 . The practice of idolatry defiling the idolater . "Ye pollute yourselves with all your idols" Worship either elevates or degrades the worshipper, according to the character of the object thereof. Genuine adoration is transforming in its influence upon him who offers it, We become like unto the object or objects of our supreme love and reverence. Hence the worship of the true God purifies, exalts, enriches, ennobles, sanctifies, the worshipper; while the worship of any idol or idols— e . g . riches, rank, popularity, power, pleasure—defiles, degrades, and impoverishes the worshipper. Moreover, sin of any kind pollutes the sinner; it stains and defiles his soul (see our notes on Ezekiel 20:7 ).

II. THE INQUIRIES OF HYPOCRITES REJECTED BY THE LOUD GOD . "Shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you." (We have already considered this topic in our homilies on Ezekiel 20:1-4 and Ezekiel 14:1-11 .)

III. THE DARK DESIGNS OF SINNERS DEFEATED BY THE LORD GOD .

1 . Here is a deliberate design formed by man to conform to idolatrous usages . "That which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone." Thus the house of Israel, the people of the only living and true God, inwardly resolved to conform to heathenish customs, hoping in some way to improve their condition by so doing. And in our day there are those who, while manifesting some respect for religion, yet conform to this world in its questionable and even sinful usages. And some "regard an irreligious condition as preferable to the struggles of a religious life."

2 . Here is man ' s design to conform to idolatrous usages discovered by the Lord God . It was in vain for these insincere inquirers of the Lord to think that they could conceal any design from him. And elders of Israel should have known this so well as to be in no danger of overlooking it. But the practice of sin misleads and deceives sinners, and had probably deceived them. God is perfectly acquainted with every thought of the mind of man ( Ezekiel 11:5 ; Psalms 139:1-5 ; Matthew 9:4 ; John 2:24 , John 2:25 ; Hebrews 4:13 ).

3 . Here is man ' s design to conform to idolatrous usages defeated by the Lord God . "That which cometh into your mind shall not be at all." Their inward purpose he would frustrate. They might attempt to carry it out, but it would not succeed. "That Israel should become like the heathen," says Schroder," would be repugnant to the nature of God, especially to his name Jehovah. The very reverse would be much more in harmony with it, namely, that the heathen should become like Israel." The Church of God is not to be conformed to and lost in the world; but the world is to be conformed to the Church and to be included therein. The kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ ( Revelation 11:15 ). And so the Lord declares that the evil designs of his sinful people should fail. He can utterly foil the deepest, subtlest schemes of man; and he will do so when those schemes are exposed to his holy will (cf. Job 5:12-14 ; Psalms 33:10 , Psalms 33:11 ; Proverbs 21:30 ; Isaiah 8:10 ; Acts 5:38 , Acts 5:39 ).—W.J.